


where we go

by queervampire



Series: a pair of kings [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bruce Banner-centric, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Heart-to-Heart, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-22 21:08:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13772592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queervampire/pseuds/queervampire
Summary: Thor initially was just going to walk through with a brief explanation that, yes, it was a garden, like he was giving Bruce a house tour and not utterlyblowing his mind. Bruce had made them stop so that he could just look at it all. When he told the other man how amazing it was, Thor had simply sent him a look that Bruce couldn't place before saying that he was welcome to explore it anytime during his stay.He wondered if that was when Thor started loving him.





	where we go

**Author's Note:**

> This is the fourth part of [a pair of kings](https://archiveofourown.org/series/944469). I have one more fic planned before calling it the end! Please excuse any typos/weird wording as I wrote most of this at midnight.
> 
> I also haven't replied to everyone's sweet as fuck comments yet, but I just wanna thank yall and anyone whose been following this series for all the love and support. I can't even begin to articulate how much that means to me. I hope that yall find $20 on the sidewalk, your skin clears, and every cat you meet lets you pet them!!
> 
> Title from Gabrielle Aplin's ["Home"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjdoWnfANBM).

Bruce couldn't sleep and he didn't know _why_.

Thanos was dead, the Infinity Stones were destroyed, Earth was safe, Hulk was sleeping soundly in the far back of his head, and Bruce was finally back home. He should've been sleeping like a baby, laying on his side in familiar soft sheets with his husband pressed against his back. Yet, here Bruce was, staring into the dark corners of their bedroom as sleep refused to come.

He carefully shifted around till he was laying on his back. Luckily, Thor was a deep sleeper; he only made a soft noise before curling closer and laying his head on Bruce's chest. Bruce wrapped an arm around Thor's shoulders as he stared up at the ceiling. He was lost in his thoughts and couldn't find a single one that was the cause of his insomnia. The only thing that came to mind was Thanos.

The battle against Thanos had been... not great. At least none of them had died. They even  _won_ , which was a goddamned miracle in itself.

Bruce hadn't been conscious for most of it. He remembered leaving Brunnhilde and the Valkyrie to defend Earth as the Avengers all took off towards Thanos' base above the planet. He remembered sitting in that spaceship as they laid out the final battle plan, knowing that he really didn't have to pay too much attention as Hulk would simply smash whatever he was told to. Still, he did his best to pay attention, and - for a moment - really felt like they could win this. They _would_ win this. They had to.

He and Thor wandered into a corner of the ship afterwards. They couldn't have any real privacy, as there was only the cockpit and the cargo space behind it, but it didn't matter. The others gave them a moment.

Before Thor could say anything, Bruce kissed him. It was a slow, searing kind of kiss, one where Bruce could hold his face in his hands while Thor wrapped his arms around his middle. Bruce could feel the urgency and barely-concealed fear as Thor kissed him back. When they pulled away, they rested their foreheads together, breathing each other in.

"I love you," he'd murmured, stroking Thor's cheeks with his thumbs. "And no matter what - these past two years have been the best of my life. The best. I wanted you to know that."

Thor held him tighter. "Don't speak like that." When he hugged him, Bruce could feel his breath shuddering on his neck and the little kisses that Thor laid there. " _Elskan mín._  I love you. I love you."

Bruce tried to hide the way his whole body shook as they held each other. That was the last vivid thing he remembered in the ship. Eventually, they had to have separated before the ship landed on Thanos' base. They'd all gone out, started fighting, did their best and then-

Well. No one had died, technically, but...

Having his chest impaled on a Chitauri blade before Hulk took over was still not his greatest moment. He couldn't remember a pain worse than that.

The look of shock and horror and rage and grief on Thor's face was somehow worse. So, so much worse.

It was the same look that kept Bruce awake now, a week after defeating Thanos and the first night back in his own bed. Thor rested soundly against his chest, a look of peace on his face, but it wasn't enough to calm Bruce. With a sigh, he shifted around until he could step out of bed, Thor pulling the sheets close to him with a small noise of protest.

Bruce's smile was fond as he put on his robes. Once he was dressed, he leaned over to kiss Thor's cheek as gently as possible before sneaking out the door. He knew where he was headed; it was the same place that had also been haunting Bruce's thoughts all night, but it was also the place that could usually calm them.

The royal garden of Asgard was impossibly beautiful. If he was asked to describe it, he wasn't sure he could do it justice. It was at the end of one of the main halls and shaped like a hexagon, with three pathways leading off to the royal chambers, research hall, and library. Five porcelain-white pillars stood at each corner, wrapped in golden vines that he was sure were just gold, until he'd gone to touch them and ended up with a very real golden leaf in his hand. There was a mix of planets with either gold or normal green leaves throughout the garden. The only plant with both, though, was the large tree in the center of the room, which was covered in little gold buds and was so tall that its green-and-gold leaves peaked out the open ceiling above. Despite the color, they were all normal enough, bending in Bruce's hand like paper.

He couldn't say the same about the flowers. They were so... _alien_. Some of them had royal blue petals that moved like shutter lenses toward the sky. Others were like roses, only they came in _every_ color, and the petals were so long that they draped to the sides like a ballgown. The rest? He couldn't even _begin_ to describe (at least, not in a way that anyone back home would understand).

It was unlike anything that Bruce had seen on Earth. He was stunned into silence when he first saw it. It was so much more _beautiful_ than anything he'd seen in his entire life. He told Thor just as much when he first lead him through the palace two years ago.

Thor initially was just going to walk through with a brief explanation that, yes, it was a garden, like he was giving Bruce a house tour and not utterly _blowing his mind_. Bruce had made them stop so that he could just look at it all. When he told the other man how amazing it was, Thor had simply sent him a look that Bruce couldn't place before saying that he was welcome to explore it anytime during his stay.

He wondered if that was when Thor started loving him.

The garden had come to symbolize so much to Bruce. Thor's love, Bruce's inner peace, the beauty of his new life and all it had to offer. It was the perfect place to meditate or simply escape. So Bruce sat under the tree where Thor first kissed him, trying to find that peace, but it was lost to him in the darkness of the night. He sighed, rubbing at his temples. He just wanted to _sleep_.

His thoughts refused to be helpful. Instead, they kept leading him back to Thor's face - the sharp contrast between him sleeping peacefully and the pure anguish that Bruce had seen when Thanos nearly killed him. He was glad he couldn't remember anything after that.

What Bruce did remember was waking up back on the ship, wrapped in Thor's cape and arms with a phantom pain in his chest. The usual post-Hulk daze clouded everything as he blinked himself awake. All he knew was that they were both on the floor, though he was in Thor's lap, while his husband rocked him back and forth.

Bruce hadn't been aware of what was going on. He felt like he'd just woken up from a dream he couldn't remember, safe and warm in Thor's arms while his head was tucked under Thor's chin. He softly mumbled, "What happened?" He hadn't been prepared for Thor's reaction.

Thor immediately pulled back, the flecks of dried blood on his face being washed away by tears as he cupped Bruce's face. "Bruce," he gasped out, then, "My love. Oh,  _Bruce_ -" before he started sobbing hysterically.

The fog in Bruce's mind cleared. "Thor, honey, no." He shifted a bit until he could open his arms, wrapping them around his husband as they hid their faces in each other's necks. "Don't cry. Please don't, honey."

That just made him cry more. "I thought... You were so... And the _blood_ -" Bruce hushed him until Thor finally found the strength to whisper, like some awful secret, "I thought I lost you. I thought I lost you already."

Bruce remembered, then, and knew that Thor's face would haunt him forever. "You didn't," he whispered, fingers digging into Thor's arms. "You didn't lose me, honey, I'm right here." But it was like he'd said nothing at all.

"I can't- I can't lose you yet. I'm not ready." Thor held him impossibly tighter, like he was trying to reassure himself that Bruce was indeed real. "I'll never be ready. _Fuck_ , Bruce, I can't-" More sobs wracked his body. "Don't leave me. Please, don't leave me, I love you so much, _elskan mín_. You're _everything_." And Bruce was left to curl around the love of his life and try to keep him together. He'd patched Thor's heart up, kept him from shattering again, but...

Bruce still felt haunted. That hadn't been the first time Bruce had to watch Thor cry over his mortality and - with a pang - he knew it wouldn't be the last. He'd accepted death a long time ago, even gone as far as welcome it with open arms and a gun in his mouth, but now he was happy. He wasn't cured, not by a long shot, yet... he was at peace. He wanted to live. The rest of his life lay ahead of him, promising recovery and love and healing. He could see it all so clearly.

At the end of it all laid Bruce on his death bed, his friends at his sides, his life complete. Thor would be there, too. Bruce would taste salt as they kissed one final time. The last thing he'd see - the last thing he had to see - would be Thor's forever youthful face above him, silhouetted in light. Bruce would only be able to watch as his bright blue eye shimmered with tears. He might reach out a withered hand to cup his cheek one last time; stroke his beard; run his fingers through his hair. Thor would try to be strong for him, letting Bruce see one final smile from the love of his life as he told him goodbye.

Then he would die and Thor would  _shatter_.

A cold shiver ran through Bruce. That was what bothered him, really: the idea that he got to spend the rest of his life with Thor while Thor had to go on for millennia without him. It broke Bruce's heart to think about it and it hurt even more to see him fall apart now, when they still had some time left. They never talked about it, either. Bruce would just say something without thinking, or something would happen that reminded them all of just how fragile he was, and Thor would be a wreck as the weight of his husband's mortality slammed down on him. Bruce would do his best to calm him down, sometimes crying with him at the unfairness of it all.

But they never talked about it afterwards. No, they couldn't. Thor always cried and Bruce never wanted to make him. They always ended up back here, in this cycle of ignoring the problem until Bruce did something stupid or the universe decided to hate him again and forced them to remember that he was on stolen time. Bruce _hated_ it.

Which was why, the moment they'd gotten back on Asgard and Thor was whisked off to handle the diplomatic affairs that they'd left in Loki's hands - under the watchful eyes and sword of Heimdall, this time - he'd regretfully left Thor to go to the library and do his own research. There was only a vague idea in his head of what he was looking for. It was something he vaguely recalled from a story he'd heard in passing, something with Loki and a Jötunn, involving a lady that he couldn't remember the name of. She had something to do with apples. That was all Bruce had to go on.

He spent the better part of three hours scouring through every book he thought might be relevant and, when that failed, looking through the ones that didn't. He couldn't find anything. That was how Brunnhilde found him, surrounded by stacks of books with his head in his hands.

"You look like shit," she'd said without preamble. Bruce laughed, but it wasn't happy.

Eventually, she got him to spill and he told her what he was looking for. It wasn't until he got to the lady with the apples that her eyes lit up in recognition. "You mean Idunn? Keeper of the golden apples?"

That had been it, yes. Then Brunnhilde asked him  _why_ he was looking it up and Bruce... hesitated. He fiddled with the edge of his robe, biting his lip as he considered what he should tell her. Not that he didn't trust her - she was second only to Thor on the very short list of people that Bruce trusted with everything - but this was a lot. A lot to handle, at least to him.

She'd been the one to break the silence. "Bruce." She touched his shoulder, firm and far from gentle, yet grounding all the same. "What's going on in that little head of yours?"

He looked over to her. Her hair was hanging loose around her shoulders and she'd traded her bloodied Valkyrie uniform for far more comfortable Asgardian robes that were a calming blue, a breeze from the open window causing the hem to flow a little at her feet. Her eyes were what caught his attention, though. She watched him so closely, like she might understand him if she just focused hard enough, her eyebrows furrowed in either concentration or concern. Probably both. They were best friends, after all.

It struck him, then, that she'd have to outlive him, too. The thought winded him - he'd only been thinking of Thor until that moment, but Brunnhilde had lost so many people. Far too many. Her sisters, her family, her _wife_. She'd only just gotten some semblance of happiness back after all those lonely years on Sakaar. Bruce was struck with the image of her having to watch him grow old and die, due to an enemy that she couldn't seek vengeance on, that she couldn't blame. None of them could fight death. Except...

Bruce swallowed, looked into Brunnhilde's eyes and said, slowly, "The apples - if you eat them, you get eternal youth, right?"

All he could hear was the sound of his own blood rushing past his ears. Then: "I have never regretted going sober more than in this very moment."

Which brought Bruce back to _this_ moment. He sat under the tree in the royal garden, looking at the golden leaves as they rustled in the nighttime breeze, imagining Idunn as Brunnhilde had described to him. The dark-skinned woman with golden hair - _literally gold_ , so bright that it shimmered in the sun - who hid out in the corners of the realm, practicing her magic, waiting for when she was needed. How she'd come back to the palace with magic roaring inside of her and simply rest a hand on the tree, sending magic through it, producing her famous golden apples whenever they needed them.

The bark was rough under Bruce's own hand. He wondered, briefly, what those apples tasted like. If they were sweet or sour or totally indescribable. Maybe they were tasteless. Maybe they wouldn't _work_. Maybe they would, and Thor would take him into his arms as he cried over his husband for the last time.

Light footsteps gently pulled Bruce out of his own head. He didn't have to turn around to see who it was, but he did anyway. "Hey," he said, softly, and reached out a hand.

Thor smiled at him as he approached. He walked between the not-roses and shuttering flowers, bedhead tied up in a messy bun, his body wrapped up in simple brown robes. The blue of his eye shone under the moonlight and Bruce was reminded of how beautiful he was. As if he ever forgot.

"Hi," said Thor once he stood in front of him. He took Bruce's hand as he sat beside him, curling against his side. His head laid on Bruce's shoulder, eye closed in peace and what Bruce was sure had to be exhaustion. "I knew you would be here."

Bruce hummed. He lifted Thor's hand to his mouth, kissing each and every knuckle, taking a few seconds to touch his lips to his ring. When he looked back down at Thor, his eye was still closed. He reached up with his right hand to caress the side of Bruce's face.

Bruce looked down at their now intertwined fingers, marveling at how their rings looked beside each other. Thor had them made by the dwarves of Nidavellir as soon as Bruce accepted the proposal, asking him what he wanted in his wedding ring, what kind of diamond he'd liked, how _many_ diamonds he'd like, if he'd rather have gold or silver or stone, and Bruce-

Thor stared at him in confusion, which only made Bruce laugh harder. "Thor, sweetheart, I love you-" he'd said, wrapping his arms around the man's neck, "-but I really couldn't care less about the rings. Hell, I don't need them. I don't know what I want in one. All I want is you."

That got him a passionate kiss that left them both breathless and panting. Bruce only felt a little bad for the dwarf craftsman watching them red-faced from the other side of the table.

Thor ended up leaving the rings a surprise, so the day that Bruce first saw them was the same day that he planned to never take it off. Their hands had shook as they gently slid the rings on each other's fingers, Thor's smile almost blinding as Bruce recited his vows, while Bruce could only cry as the ring fit him perfectly. He'd been too focused on Thor afterwards that he didn't realize the magic of the ring until they were lying in bed together that night, enjoying their honeymoon in each other's arms, unable to stop kissing or holding each other. He'd already read the engraving on the ring, _forever_ in beautiful Asgardian script that wrapped around the band, but he didn't notice the stone until he was twisting the ring around his finger. That was when he noticed the way it caught in the lamplight next to them. That was when he saw it - the way that the little sparkles in the stone shifted, moved, flowed, until Bruce realized that he was looking at a whole galaxy and stars upon stars all hiding within the small gem.

Thor kissed him again before answering his question about what it was. "Its a tracker, of sorts," he'd explained. He lifted their hands so that their rings were beside each other and Bruce saw that the same galaxy swirled within both of them. "This is the galaxy within which Asgard resides. As long as we wear these, we will know exactly where in the universe the other is. I thought you might... appreciate it. Knowing where I am, until I return home to you."

Bruce had stared at him, thought,  _How did I get so lucky?_  and kissed Thor surprisingly gently until Thor pulled away to softly call Bruce  _my king_ , causing things to get heated very fast. It was a good honeymoon.

Bruce only took the ring off once. It had been in that tiny spaceship only a few days ago as they raced off to defeat Thanos, when Thor pulled Bruce close to him in their little corner. He'd pulled away and swallowed down the lump in his throat as he pulled the ring off his finger, trembling, feeling like he was ripping off a limb.

"Why...?" Thor had total confusion on his face as Bruce gently took his hand and placed the ring on the palm, curling Thor's fingers so that it was safe in his fist.

"The Other Guy doesn't do well with keeping my stuff safe," he'd said, softly. His eyes stung. "Keep it safe for me. Until I wake up again. _When_ we see each other again." He looked up into Thor's eye for assurance.

Thor looked like he was doing his best to keep his composure. "Alright," he finally said. He placed his other hand on top of Bruce's, where it curled around Thor's fist. "Alright, my love. Come back to me, so that I may return this to you."

They kept to their word. When they were back on the ship and Thor's sobs had died down, he reached into his pocket and pulled out Bruce's ring, gently slipping it back on his finger. Bruce pulled him in and kissed him deeply, their fingers tight in each other's hair, bodies pressed as close as they could be without a care for what everyone else around them thought. "I love you," they said into each other's mouths, frenzied and shaking. "I love you, I love you, I love you."

To himself, Bruce thought, _Don't take me from him. Give me more time. Please, give us more time._

Time. Bruce had the answer to that problem, now. Thor had time and Bruce didn't, but there was a way to get it, such a simple way. He was hesitant, though, because Thor hadn't told him about it first. Which only meant two things. One was that Thor genuinely hadn't known about it, which was... unlikely. Two was that Thor knew about the golden apples, knew about them all too well, but believed that Bruce shouldn't be immortal for one reason or another.

That bothered him. That bothered Bruce a whole fucking lot.

Why wouldn't Thor want Bruce to be immortal? Every time Bruce's imminent death came up, he was a wreck, fearful of the limited time they had left and mournful of the precious time that they'd already lost. Why wouldn't he jump at the chance to bring Bruce eternal youth? The promises of forever in their vows were reflected on their rings and it would be so easy to make that a reality. He didn't understand why Thor wouldn't do that.

Unless immortality was truly that awful. Maybe Thor knew what Bruce didn't - couldn't - know. Maybe living forever was truly hell and a short but fulfilling life was preferable to watching civilizations be born and implode, stars die, whole planets go dead. Maybe Bruce should have let the whole subject go and accept his fate as a human being who was destined to die someday. He didn't like that, though. It felt too much like giving up. Bruce wasn't a quitter anymore.

So he took a deep breath before he lost his nerve and asked, "Did you know about Idunn's golden apples?"

Thor went very still against him. Bruce could hear the sharp intake of breath, the gears whirring in his head as he probably tried coming up with some explanation.

Bruce shut his eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?" His voice stayed steady. Calm.

There were a few seconds that were way too quiet for comfort. Finally, Thor sighed as his hand fell from Bruce's cheek and he sat up. His other hand stayed in Bruce's. "I was afraid that you'd say no. That you'd be horrified and run off."

That- That angered Bruce in a way that he hadn't expected or could've prepared for. Snapping his eyes open to turn to Thor, whose own eye was trained on their joined hands, he realized how tense he was. The urge to rip his hand away came and went; neither of them needed that right now. Still, Bruce didn't have to be calm. "Why the _hell_ would I do that?"

Thor hesitated. "You-" His eye briefly flickered up to Bruce's before he continued. "You've told me about your struggles with your own mind. I know how recently you have overcome the urge to simply... die. By your own hand." The last bit was whispered like some dirty secret. He looked pained as he said it. "But I was worried that if I asked you to live _forever_ , you'd be overwhelmed, and-"

"You thought I'd leave you." And the anger morphed into hurt. He knew that the man had his own insecurities, but to think that Bruce would decide he was too much and not worth his time... "You thought I'd rather _die_ and _leave_ you." Thor still wouldn't meet his eyes in shame. _Good_ , said an ugly green-eyed voice inside of him. Bruce buried him deep down. "Thor," he said, slowly, "do you really think I would do that?"

"No. Yes? I don't know!" He let go of Bruce's hand to run both of his through his hair, untying his bun as he began gesturing wildly. "I was _scared_." He looked at him, then, and Bruce could see the _fear_ in his eye. It was the same fear that he'd seen too many times - the fear of losing Bruce. Thor moved as if to take his hands in his own again, but he pulled back and folded his hands in his lap. He didn't look away from Bruce's eyes. "Bruce, you are the best thing that's ever happened to me. I know you said yes to marriage, to spending _the rest of your life_ with me, but that's different than spending thousands of years together. You would be changing your whole life. _That's_ why I never told you. I can't ask you to do that for me."

Bruce wanted to comfort him. He also wanted to yell at him, a little bit, but he also wanted to yell at himself because this never had to even happen. _This_ being the tears, the crying; Thor's premature mourning; Bruce's pain every time he found another grey hair. They never had to go through all of that if Thor had just told him, if Bruce had finally made them talk about it, or if they'd just gotten over their insecurities for one second and confronted the elephant in their relationship.

None of that mattered because they were talking about it now and there was a lot that Bruce had to say. He should have said it all a long time ago, but he couldn't so he'd say it now.

"No, you can't ask me to do that for you."

Thor shut his eye again, flinching.

Bruce continued, "But did you ever think that I might want to do that for _myself_?" and Thor looked back at him with shock all over his face. Bruce took a deep breath. "Thor, I know you're scared of losing me, but I'm scared, too. I don't want to lose you and I don't want watch you lose me. I don't want to spend every second we have together knowing that I'm gonna die and you'll be alone. I don't want to leave you, not if I can help it." He suddenly reached forward and took Thor's hands in his own, startling him. He didn't pull away.

"I... I spent so long wishing that I was dead - that I _deserved_ to be dead - and I still hate myself sometimes, but I want to _live_ , now. I want to live like I never have before. Okay?" Thor nodded so fast that Bruce almost worried he'd sprain something. "I'm alive and I love it. I may not love myself yet, but I'm at peace. And that's because I found a home here, where I can heal and find myself again. So don't think for a second that I'd leave just because I'm scared."

Thor nodded again. He slipped a hand out from under Bruce's to lace their fingers together, hesitant; apologetic; tentative.

"And I have quite a few years that I'd like back," he said, softly. Thor stared. "I think I deserve them each a hundred times over and I want to spend them here. At  _home_ , with our friends. With Brunnhilde and Sif and the Warriors Three. With Tony and the rest of the team, when they visit." He took his free hand and cupped Thor's face. "With you. For as long as you want me around."

Thor opened and closed his mouth a few times. "Bruce," he settled on. His eye searched Bruce's face for some kind of clarification.

Bruce smiled, brushing his thumb across Thor's cheek. "You wanted to be with me forever, right?"

There was a moment where neither of them said anything. The only sounds were the rustling of leaves, the wind blowing every once and a while through the corridors, and their breathing, which was perfectly in sync, so much so that he couldn't tell where he inhaled and Thor exhaled. Their eyes never left each other, Thor's wide and shining bright blue, Bruce's gentle and watching. Waiting.

Then, Thor was slipping off the bench and onto his knees, holding Bruce's hands in a death grip. He bent his head so that his forehead rested against Bruce's knees as if in prayer.

"Bruce," he gasped out, whole body shaking. "Bruce. _Bruce_ \- Are you sure?"

Bruce leaned down until he could kiss their joined hands. "Yes. I want to love you forever, Thor. Please. _Let me_."

Thor laughed before sobbing. "As if I could deny you. As if I could live without you.  _Yes_ , Bruce." He let go of their hands and shifted so that he could wrap his arms around Bruce's middle, hiding his face in his husband's stomach as he cried and laughed hysterically. "Yes. Yes. Yes."

Bruce laughed, too, curling himself over Thor to pull him closer. "I love you so much," he whispered, crying into Thor's hair.

"And I love you. I love you _forever_. _Elskan mín_ , I love you. I'll never stop loving you.  _I love you_."

As they held each other, some golden leaves fluttered down onto their hair and fine robes, but they couldn't be bothered to move.

* * *

Two days later, Idunn stood before them, golden hair blending with the leaves at her feet. The sun was almost blinding as it shone down from above.

Brunnhilde was in the casual training gear and makeup that she usually wore, a sharp contrast from the crisp white uniform she wore on Bruce's wedding day, but just as proud all the same. She'd hugged Bruce when she arrived and he didn't mention her tears. Sif stood beside her wearing the same clothes and grinning with happiness. Loki was on Brunnhilde's other side, despite claiming that he didn't care at all for this. He'd come as soon as word spread through the palace that Heimdall had brought in Idunn from the outskirts of Asgard.

The Warriors Three stood opposite them, surprisingly sober. Fandral tried and failed to hide his sniffling, while Hogun rubbed his back as Volstagg beamed in Bruce and Thor's direction.

Thor. Thor stood at Bruce's side, so close that their arms brushed as they breathed, his eye only on Bruce. They'd eventually wandered back from the garden to their room that night, collapsing beside each other in exhaustion and sleeping more soundly than they had in over a week. After Heimdall basically volunteered to get Idunn for them without needing to be asked, first, they told the people closest to them what would be happening. They all were with them today.

The night before, Bruce and Thor laid down together. It was reverent and gentle and truly _intimate_ in a way that had them both overwhelmed. Bruce could count on one hand the number of times that he'd cried during sex, but he guessed that this... wasn't just sex. It was making love. He never called it that, usually, yet - as he wrapped his arms around Thor's shoulders and threw his head back, their bodies close as possible, soft moans and tears getting lost between their mouths - he knew that's what it was. He kissed Thor deeply, safe in the knowledge that Thor knew it, too.

He didn't have to look at Thor now to know that he felt just as much love for him as he did last night, or anytime before and thereafter. Thor knew the same about him.

Idunn pursed her lips, watching Bruce closely, calculatingly. She held up the golden apple in his direction. "Is this the life you choose, Bruce Banner?"

Bruce looked back at her. His friends - his _family_ \- all stood around him with smiles on their faces. His husband stood beside him, radiating love, so much so that Bruce thought he might drown in it. The sun was warm. He was at peace.

He held out his cupped hands like a child at communion. "Yes, it is." _Amen_. He couldn't hide his smile if he tried.

The apple was smooth to the touch, the sunlight shining off of it. He and Thor took a deep breath.

Bruce took a bite. It was sweet.

**Author's Note:**

> _'Cause they say home is where your heart is set in stone_   
>  _Is where you go when you're alone_   
>  _Is where you go to rest your bones_   
>  _It's not just where you lay your head_   
>  _It's not just where you make your bed_   
>  _As long as we're together, does it matter **where we go**?_   
> 
> 
> I'm on tumblr [@twunkbanner](https://twunkbanner.tumblr.com/) and twitter [@rapheliorn](https://twitter.com/rapheliorn).


End file.
